"Missed it by THAT much": A popular catchphrase uttered by Max, usually accompanied by his thumb and forefinger arranged to suggest a very small dimension. It accompanied various activities, such as escapes and leaps, that *almost* succeeded. It appeared first during "The Day Smart Turned Chicken" when a KAOS agent leapt out the window to a waiting truck full of mattresses many stories below. Max looks out the window and then reports that the unfortunate villain "missed it by that much," leaving little doubt as to the man's sad fate.

The Cone of Silence: Max frequently demanded The Cone of Silence be deployed for top secret conversations. It consisted of two large sections connected by a thinner channel, the whole thing looking much like a weightlifter's set of dumbbells. The idea was that eavesdroppers outside the Cone could not hear conversations conducted within the Cone, but in practice various technical problems and design limitations prevented the cone from ever working properly. At various times, it crushed The Chief's desk, refused to remain deployed, failed to work entirely, and jammed (both the regular and portable versions suffered this last fault). Despite continual disappointment, Max insisted on using the Cone, usually provoking The Chief's ire when it failed yet again.